A radical homemaker in Sudbury, Northern Ontario, making bread, shopping smart and conducting experiments in living.

Author: c

I can hardly believe it, but our recent receipts show that I’ve been spending HALF of what I was usually spending every week at the grocery store. No kidding!

For the last year, our grocery bills have totalled over $800/month for our family of four, sometimes up to $900 or $1000. I could easily spend over $200 on just one trip to Superstore, and then hit Costco a couple of days later and drop no less than $100.

The last few shops I’ve done have been less than $100 a week! I haven’t had to shop more than once each week, and I haven’t had to grab milk at the corner store either.

So what the heck was I buying that was costing me DOUBLE what I’ve spent the last few weeks?

Thinking back, I was buying a lot of bread, cereal and crackers, bagels, gourmet organic chocolate bars, individually packaged granola bars, and yogurt cups. I often took my kids shopping with me, and rarely said no to their requests. I frequently bought sandwich meat, and sometimes also frozen casseroles or ribs when my defences were lowered.

The last few weeks I’ve been making a lot of the things I had gotten used to buying:

I’ve been sticking to shopping mostly at Food Basics. I find I can fill my cart and buy whatever I feel like, and it always costs around $100, whereas at Superstore I can easily go over $200 on a weekly shop.

I’m also getting more organized about planning my meals, and have really delved into the subject of Meal Planning which has taken me down a few interesting rabbit holes which I will write about in a future post. For now let me say that I BELIEVE advanced meal planning might be able to get my grocery bills down to $400 per month.

Can I spend just $400 per month on groceries?

I consider this a challenge for the months of October and November! Full disclosure, I will be starting the month of October off with a fairly well-stocked pantry and a couple of meals in the freezer, but I will try to end the same way to start November off right.

For these prices, I have not been buying much organic, except for some of our meat which I usually purchase from a local farmer on ClickFork, Sudbury’s new online Farmer’s Market. Dalew Farms has amazing grass-fed beef, and Three Forks Farms offers certified organic pastured chicken. I also sometimes splurge on organic berries from Costco for my smoothies.

These harvest months in Ontario are also the time for the best prices for local fruit & veggies, so it’s a good time to challenge myself like this.

My second part-time job

I have a wonderful friend who does mystery shopping as one of her main sources of income. Yes, it’s a legitimate way to make money, and there are definitely companies that won’t scam you–but that is a post for another day.

Basically, after working two part time jobs from January to April of this past year, I figured out that I really only want ONE job right now. I had to lose a twonie-sized patch of hair on the back of my head to show me how much stress I was under, to be convinced not to look for another opportunity to start raking in more cash.

But looking at how much I’m saving on groceries has shown me that I AM EARNING THE EQUIVALENT OF A little PART-TIME JOB just by getting smarter about my grocery shopping, and cooking everything from scratch.

The difference between this “job” and the other options? I LOVE THIS ONE!

This is very similar to where I was back when I was writing the most on this blog, at home with my two kids and trying to make our little one-income lifestyle work. Now I’ve got the hours when the kids are in school to focus on meal planning, baking and studying more ways to be frugal, and I couldn’t be happier!

So, what’s the plan?

I will continue to shop at Food Basics, hitting up Costco and Superstore only once a month each

I’m going to try a monthly meal plan to get my expenses evened out over more time

Sunday Soup, and Meatless Monday

continue to take advantage of sales, price matching at Superstore, and the Flipp app to find best prices on my preferred brands

oatmeal or home-made bread for kids’ breakfasts

keep on making from scratch everything I can possibly save money on

Stay out of stores as much as possible!

October hasn’t started yet, so I will post my meal plan when I get it ready. We do have my son’s birthday in October, so that might increase food costs a little, but I will try to keep it reasonable, and may even earmark some funds for “party food” that will be separate from the main grocery budget.

I’m back to making our family’s bread on a regular basis. It saves us at least $7 per week or more, and is much tastier than anything we can buy. On second thought, I think making good bread saves much more than the cost of bread, since my family is more likely to choose a fresh slice of yummy fresh bread than a more expensive snack like boxed cereal. Plus, my kids really love “Mommy Bread”, and it makes my heart swell to hear them say so!

With cooler Fall weather coming our way, making bread is also a lovely way to heat up the house and create that homey feeling that seems to define the season.

My current fave recipe is kinda healthy, and very easy. It’s the Good Whisk Bread recipe from Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson (with only a couple of modifications that I’ll tell you about below!). Linda has made two videos (first part here, second part here) demonstrating the process for making and then shaping this bread, which really takes the guess-work out–especially for the shaping bit!

What I love about this recipe is that it gets great flavour with a super simple recipe that requires very little hands-on time. It makes two small loaves, which I have been slicing right after baking, and putting in the freezer to last the week. It makes very flavourful toast and cheese sandwiches. My daughter loves when I make her a toasted cheese sandwich in the morning for her lunch (she calls it a “Cheese-a-roo”), and I love having a tomato sandwich for lunch, with mayo, cheese, and a pickle!

The original recipe recommends white whole wheat flour, and 1/2 cup of untoasted wheat germ along with the first mix. I don’t have either of these things, so I have just been using the freshly ground Redeemer whole wheat flour that I have, and not bothering with the wheat germ, though I suppose I could add in 1/2 cup of home-ground oat flour or some other add-in. I have also reduced the salt from 1 tbsp to 2 1/2 tsp, as I found it a bit too salty at the higher amount.

1 tbsp (21 g) honey or other sweetener (maple syrup or agavé for a vegan choice)

3 cups warm water

4 cups (480 g) all-purpose unbleached flour

Combine whole wheat flour, yeast, salt and sweetener. Add 2 cups of the water and whisk swiftly for one minute. This starts to develop the gluten to give a better rise in the final bread.

Add the last cup of water and the 4 cups of unbleached flour, and mix vigorously and thoroughly to combine. The dough will be sticky and quite wet.

Cover with a lid and let rise on a counter for 1 to 5 hours, then refrigerate overnight or longer (up to 2 weeks). I find a good flavour develops at 2 days).

On baking day, remove the dough from the fridge and divide and shape into two loaves. This video shows how to divide and shape the loaves. They will be quite wet, but still should form a nice shape in a loaf pan.

Whereas Linda uses a greased nonstick pan, I prefer to line my loaf pans with parchment paper which easily peels away from the finished loaves. I find mine need to rise for at least 3 hours. I prepare my oven with the loaves on the middle rack, and a pan of boiling water underneath for warmth and humidity.

I also find mine need a longer bake at a higher temperature (though maybe a longer rise would correct this somewhat). The last loaves I made baked for at least an hour at 400ºF. The internal temperature should reach 205ºF.

Allow to cool completely, and then either keep at room temperature or slice and place in the freezer to maintain freshness.

I’ve used my Amazon Affiliate link–but I have no expectation of ever making a dime off such a thing. I am completely willing to be surprised, however, if you want to order this great book. You won’t be disappointed.

We’ve launched our latest no-spend month in the 30 days between back-to-school season and birthday/Christmas season. It’s a well-timed effort, aiming to prep us for the gauntlet of birthdays that starts in October and runs all the way to early April (amidst which Christmas just happens to fall smack in the middle). What’s a frugal gal to do?

This being our third or so no-spend month, the rest of the family is well-trained now to know what to expect. No special treats at the grocery store. No runs to the corner store for chips or pop. No pizza lunches. We wait to get that movie at the library. I still buy groceries, pay for the kids’ lessons, and of course would fund any medical needs that arose, but we strictly limit “extras”.

From past no-spend months we have learned some skills and mindset hacks:

we make lemon-flavoured sweetened iced tea, or home squeezed lemon juice instead of pop

we have lunch in the park or a walk with friends instead of grabbing a coffee together

my partner started walking home on his lunch hour instead of buying lunch or snacks downtown

we are generally all home-bodies, and the no-spend month is no different, but during the month we make an extra effort to do more special (free) things all together like family walks, family basketball, family disc golf, puzzles on the living room floor, and maybe learn a new card game

(Plus I am trying to generate joyful chore routines that teach the kids some skills while enjoying our time together. So far: it’s kindof a chore, maybe not so joyful . . . yet! But it sure is nice to walk into the dining room later in the evening and see a clean table, with the leftovers safely stored in the fridge instead of sitting out getting dodgy.)

The not-so-fun Money talk

When I first introduced this round of no-spending, my partner was bummed. We had a conversation, and it didn’t go so well, though he was still willing to see it through for the month. He said it made him feel really restricted and sad to not be able to just grab a coffee or something at the corner store when he wanted it. And when I thought about it, I could really understand where he was coming from. I mean, he’s not the one with the blog about frugal living. This is MY nerdy thing, not his–for him, it’s just restrictive.

I thought about what he said in our conversation, about how this kind of extreme cutting back made him feel, and slept on it. The next day something I was reading inspired me, and I introduced a second conversation. I really tried to see things from his perspective, and then I asked him what financial goals he could see for us in the next couple of years.

It’s all about goals

Despite all of my blogging about saving money and living frugally, we have had surprisingly few conversations about our financial goals. Maybe he’s been afraid our goals would not line up with each other; maybe I’ve been afraid our they would not line up with reality.

But despite our fears and our silence, I pointed out that so far, we have achieved every single financial goals we have set:

we bought a house

we paid off all our student loans

we have set aside a growing chunk in our kids’ education savings plan

we got out of consumer debt, and have managed to live consumer debt free (apart from our car & mortgage) for many years

I was able to stay home with the kids and even homeschool them for six years

we have weathered several bouts of unemployment

I am now able to work part-time

Our incomes may seem meagre, but looking back, we have been able to achieve so much!

The best part of the conversation was when he told me he appreciated all of my work on the family finances. It’s not every day you get told you are appreciated! Believe me, it made me feel pretty good about all the work you see me post about, plus all that gets done behind the scenes.

Talking about goals can be a bit scary, but I think we were in a good place in our conversation because we were able to come to three goals for the next short term:

save money to get our roof fixed (the shingles have seen better days)

finish paying off our car (a 0% loan with just one more year left)

save for a trip to New York City!

All of these are reasonable goals, and the vacation goal makes it a bit more fun and motivating for everyone. Who knows–maybe we can divert some of the birthday/Christmas money into that pot and move that goal to the top of the list!

I would love to hear how others talk money with their spouses and family members. Do you have any tips to share for keeping everyone on the same page financially?

No, this cute LunchBot isn’t mine. It’s a creative commons image called “Herb Chicken and Potatoes LunchBots Quad Bento” by sheri chen on Flickr. I have never made anything this cute in my life.

I have yet to meet a parent who enjoys preparing school lunches. While there is a nurturing beauty to the idea that you are sending your kid off to enjoy their day with the very best nutrition and flavour that a parent’s hands can lovingly create . . . the tedium of it tends to creep in pretty quickly around mid-September.

There are also the sandwiches coming back with one bite out of the corner (“I didn’t have time to finish it!”); the organic apple sauce you thought was being eaten, only to find out it has been traded every day for a Froot-by-the-foot; and the blessing/curse of the weekly pizza day (Yay! Don’t have to send a sandwich! Boo–still have to prepare everything else . . .).

I just have to say: we need a nutritious school lunch program!

But I digress.

In doing my final prep before the first day of school, I’ve been scouring the hivemind for money saving school lunch ideas. I found a few cute recipes, but surprisingly not a whole lot of brilliant strategies for saving big-time on school lunches. But even without a list of 50 or even 20 amazing ways of saving money on lunch, I think the following list could certainly help keep costs down on what could otherwise be the most expensive meal of the day.

Here are the best of the suggestions I’ve found so far:

Instead of buying pre-packaged food, buy in bulk and divide into your own smaller containers. CHECK! This year I vow to make my own yogurt cups using mason jars, and finally put to use the reusable pouches I bought a couple years ago for applesauce.

Make it yourself: it’s cheaper to make bread, granola bars, hummus, and even crackers. CHECK! With the extra time I have coming up, I can spend more time DIYing my kids’ lunch menu. In fact, I just made a batch of granola bars (though with 3/4 cups of honey, I’m not sure how much cheaper they actually are).

Opting for less expensive protein options, like sunflower and sesame seeds, hummus, lentil soup and eggs. CHECK! I am currently investigating seed-based recipes to incorporate protein into home-baked treats, and plan to focus also on sending frugal soups for lunch.

Break up with disposable packaging. CHECK! Plastic zipper baggies may seem cheap, but the price adds up over the long run, and the plastic waste is awful to think about. While our purchase of Lunchbots for the whole family was not cheap, these stainless steel containers have lasted through three school (and work) years so far, and show no signs of slowing down.**this is not an affiliate link. I really love these boxes, and also the store I’ve linked to. I don’t profit in any way from clicks or sales from this link.** Additionally, I have started sending mason jars, which are inexpensive, dishwasher-safe, microwavable, and endlessly reusable. I also sometimes use very inexpensive waxed paper for wrapping sandwiches when I forget to wash our reusable sandwich bags. (Sandwiches don’t cram well into mason jars.)

No more juice. CHECK! When the kids first started school I sent them juice every day. I don’t know why, I just thought that was the “normal” thing, which was weird because we hardly ever buy juice for home. Well, it was a real revelation when the school hosted a “Water Bottle Challenge” where kids were rewarded with a reusable water bottle after packing only water for 30 days. Once they went without juice for a month, I never looked back! Tap water is healthy, frugal and so much better for the environment.

Bringing leftovers for lunch. NOT SURE. We actually love to eat leftovers for supper, and it saves so much time in the kitchen, which helps especially on the nights I work. It seems like a waste to send all the yummy leftovers for lunches. I am also not sure about the cost savings: a sandwich on homemade bread is probably cheaper than a serving from dinner. However, I’m willing to consider this and calculate the savings on a few of our supper favourites.

Baked potatoes. WOW! This is a revelation for me! My kids LOVE baked potatoes, and actually just like to eat them plain with butter. I could cook them overnight and have them ready to pack in the morning. Wrapped in foil and then insulated in a cloth napkin, or even inside a thermos, I think my kids would really like this frugal lunch option.

Soup for lunch. CHECK! I’m on a soup mission this year! More to come on this one.

Cut waste. CHECK! There is nothing worse than going to wash out the kid’s lunch boxes and finding a load of uneaten food. Even worse if this happens on Sunday night, and things have started to ferment or turn blue & fuzzy . . . been there! My strategies for reducing waste include: explaining to the kids about eating the most perishable food first, and saving anything that will keep until later; not sending too much food, though finding the perfect amount can seem like a magic trick; giving them anything uneaten from their lunches before any other after-school snack options; serving a “lunchbot side dish” with their supper if they don’t finish their fruit & veggies; and maybe most important, sending food they actually like and will eat!

I actually couldn’t find 10 really good ideas, even after much internet searching. If I find another one I’ll update this post, but for now you’ve got 9 really good ideas, and I’ll finish with a couple more bonus points.

A couple of bonus suggestions:

stay away from cheap plastic reusables. It seems like a lot of blog posts about saving money on school lunches are just trying to get you to buy a lot of new products through their affiliate links. Try using mason jars, or consider investing in some high quality stainless steel–LABEL THEM WELL! ALL THE PARTS! They could last forever.

kids don’t get a lot of time to eat (either that or they spend all of it talking to their friends), so making things really easy to eat is very important.

fresh fruits and veggies. In our “quad” lunchbot, we send a selection of four different fruits and veggies. We rotate through cucumber slices, apple slices, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, grapes, a peeled and quartered kiwi, orange slices, cherries in season, and sometimes as a treat, mango or ground cherries, or something else small or cut up into nice pieces. We try to keep a “lunchbot first” rule for eating lunch, or sometimes I end up putting the leftovers in an after- school smoothie for the kids. While we aren’t skimping on these servings, I always figure they will help save money in the long run by contributing to the kids’ health.

It’s been a wild ride over the last few years, and I have neglected my blog very badly. I’m so glad it is still here where I left it! Life has taken me in many different directions, down some fascinating paths, and I’ve ended up in a really wonderful place, for which I am so grateful.

I’m currently working part-time at the library, my partner is working at a non-profit within walking distance, the kids are happy at their school, and we are surrounded by family, friends and nature. And boy, have we summered hard this year! The kids agreed it has been the best summer in a long time, filled with swimming, camping, cousins, and even a quick trip to the water park!

Besides our great summer, I am also happy at work–happier than I have ever been in any other job, period. I love my job so much! It combines my life-long love affair with books, with my gifts of welcoming and service. Being part-time, it allows me to continue to spend a lot of time with the kids, and since they are in school, it means (at least from September to June) I can keep my house clean! That is something I still have not managed to figure out when the kids are home.

The other side of part-time work is the salary that goes with it. Work less -> earn less!

But I would rather this situation than a year ago when I was managing the Farmer’s Market, and then I got a full-time contract at Public Health, and THEN I got my part-time library gig! For a little while I did have three jobs, and while we pulled through, the stress took a toll on my health.

My Return to Frugal Living

One of my most useful skills has got to be my ability to “Buckle Down” when times get tough. When I am motivated–and when the need is there–I can cut spending down like no one’s business. My family kinda hates me for it, but I keep the bank accounts in the black, and I love learning more tips–for free of course!–for keeping our hard-earned money safe from overspending.

Unfortunately, to my eleven-year-old, there is nothing more eye-rollingly un-cool than a spending freeze.

Unfortunately for her, I find frugal living utterly fascinating–at least while I have to keep it up. The minute the need goes away, I usually collapse from the strain of it. But luckily while going through it, I am usually able to stay motivated to get through the tough time.

How Blogging Helps

When I first started this blog back in May, 2009, we were an apartment-living two-income family of three in Ottawa, Ontario. This blog helped me transition to the lower salary during my Maternity leave that October, and then it helped us move to living on just my partner’s salary. A couple of years later, I was able to carry out my dream of homeschooling my kids, and continuing as a one-income family.

Many pieces of luck came together, and we were able to move back to Sudbury (our hometown), and buy a house of our own. Here we have survived one-income living, job losses, appliance breakdown, as well as other transitions. While I haven’t been around much over the last few years, the skills I tested and honed on these pages have helped us achieve our dreams, and get the family through many financial ups and downs.

The Next Adventure

Right now I am days away from a really exciting time: getting to be a home-maker, and having time to write! If you read between the lines, you may understand that I am facing reduced hours at work, which requires us to tighten our belts once again.

But to be honest for a moment, beyond my current need to revisit my frugal ways, I have truly missed this space: for sharing ideas, inspiring others, and pushing my own skills and thinking beyond where they were before.

This Fall, I am planning to check in here more often, sharing my newest experiments in frugal living–bigger and weirder than ever before!–plus my insights into green and healthy living, parenting and being a person in this challenging and incredible world of ours.

So far I’ve sent 16 newsletters out–with one on the way in the morning!–and I’ve already received several emails from readers who are enjoying the tips! I hope I am inspiring people to clarify and make progress on their financial goals, or even just to tweak their lifestyle to be a bit more environmentally conscious.

My tips range from abstract to concrete, all with the aim to keep frugality on your radar as you start your day. If I can add a few tools to your toolbox along the way, that will be gratifying.

Remember: there are no affiliate links; I’m not selling anything; you can unsubscribe anytime; and it’s not about couponing. (Unless I write about why I don’t do couponing. That would be the only coupon-related post I would ever do.)

Awhile ago a friend asked me for my tips on how I keep my milk kefir. I’ve had more failures than successes with kefir over the years, so I really understand where she’s coming from. To be honest, I think my current state of kefir success is due entirely to the luck of my current needs matching up with the process.

At the end of this article I have a tip sheet compiled from the info in the post–for those who are in a hurry, or familiar with kefir and just want the quick version!

What is kefir?

Let me back up for a moment and just review what in the world kefir actually is. There is a lot of lore around kefir, as with all of the various pass-along ferments such as kombucha, sourdough, “friendship bread”, and so on. Kefir, like kombucha, is made with a SCOBY–a Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast–that lives and grows, in this case, in milk. The kefir SCOBY needs dairy milk to stay alive, but can apparently be switched between dairy and non-dairy milk for anyone who can tolerate some dairy but prefers to consume other milks, as long as it regularly spends some time in a dairy environment.

Like kombucha and yogurt, kefir is a source of probiotics, friendly bacteria that help our digestion, and other processes in our bodies. While the science around whether it is possible to permanently change our gut microbiome through ingesting probiotics is spotty, I have read evidence that shows ingesting probiotics does keep us healthier.

In taste, kefir is a little like yogurt, but with a “fresher”, “cleaner” taste. For myself, after years of enjoying yogurt, I don’t really enjoy kefir straight-up, but I use mine in smoothies and don’t notice a bit of difference.

Some people can react to the high probiotic count in homemade kefir. It is very fresh and has literally billions of healthy bacteria. I have read suggestions of starting with a tablespoon a day, and then increasing by tablespoon once you find you can tolerate it.

For myself, I find that having my kefir-based smoothie in the morning feels great, whereas the few times I’ve tried to have a smoothie for a snack later in the day, it has hurt my stomach. I don’t know the reason for this, but now that I’ve noticed the trend, I make sure to keep my kefir consumption to the morning only.

Kefir vs. Yogurt

So, if kefir is so similar to yogurt, why in the world should you switch to making kefir?

The answer is simple: as in, kefir is so simple to make. The kefir culture is mesophilic, which means that, unlike yogurt, the culture grows in the moderate temperatures of your countertop. The upshot? Making kefir doesn’t require a pot, thermometer, stove-top or warmer. It’s as simple as pouring and walking away.

And as you likely already know, making your own dairy-based probiotics is SO MUCH CHEAPER than buying them, either in food or pill form. My daily kefir only costs me about 38 cents, and it is a food source as well, not just a vitamin.

Also, when you make your own fermented dairy you eliminate the plastic packaging that most purchased yogurts and kefir drinks are sold in.

My Way with Kefir

I think this is the third or fourth time I’ve tried to make kefir work for me, and this time it is working! Here is what is working for me, and a few tips on what I’ve learned through my trials and errors.

The key to kefir success seems to lie using it on a regular daily basis. Unlike kombucha, a slower-fermenting SCOBY, kefir seems to be somewhat less resilient, and I notice it is much, much happier with a daily refreshing of milk.

From what I’ve read, this is also likely what keeps kefir safe, as with such regular switching to a clean container, and fresh clean milk, it seems to be much less likely to get contaminated than kombucha.

If you are going to be traveling and have to break your kefir routine, you can put your refreshed SCOBY in the fridge for a few days. I’ve been told the ratio is 1 tbsp kefir to 1 cup milk, and that should be fine for 1 week. I find that even leaving it and refrigerating for a day or two leaves my kefir sluggish; however, a few days of daily refreshing and use has always perked it back up.

Keep in mind this is an occasional lapse, within a regular daily use pattern: if you are not using it daily, you may not find success. I think that was my biggest problem in the past. That, and I tried to ferment too much milk with too few grains, not realizing the 1 tbsp to 1 cup ratio was the best.

Daily Routine

I keep my kefir in a mason jar on the counter, covered with a paper coffee filter secured with an elastic band. I make and use about a cup of kefir each day, using it in my morning smoothie.

Every morning I scoop the SCOBY from its current container into a clean mason jar with a plastic spoon, and pour a cup of fresh milk over it. I then pour the finished kefir from the original jar into my Magic Bullet jar for my smoothie. I use 2% local non-organic milk, but you can use any kind of dairy milk you prefer.

In this way, my SCOBY grows, and I’ve found once every couple of months or sooner I am able to split off a chunk to share with a friend. I love this culture sharing aspect of kefir, but if you are not inclined, the grains can be composted instead. I don’t have data on the safety of consuming them.

The ratio I was told when I got my grains was a tablespoon of SCOBY to a cup of milk. This ratio works well, but as the SCOBY grows, the fermentation speeds up. Warmer weather or a warmer environment also speeds up the fermentation. I have heard the word “overfermented” applied to kefir, but I don’t believe there is any problem or danger with consuming overfermented kefir. It does get more sour, and some people won’t like it, but in my smoothie I don’t really notice.

However, when I notice that my kefir is overfermenting in 24 hours, it tells me that my SCOBY has grown bigger than my needs, and it is time once again to share.

Kefir Tip Sheet

ratio is 1 tbsp SCOBY to 1 cup milk

kefir works best when refreshed every single day

when SCOBY doubles in size, you can split it off, give half away to a friend, and go back to your 1 tbsp to 1 cup ratio

you can refrigerate it in fresh milk for up to a week, though it will likely be sluggish for a few days

revive and re-invigorate your kefir with several days of daily refreshes

kefir may like higher-fat milk, so when dealing with sluggish kefir, a shot of cream may help to liven it up

use a fresh clean jar each day

cover with a breathable cover like a paper coffee filter secured with an elastic band, to keep out contaminants

if you are not used to kefir, start with 1 tbsp, and increase the next day, to see how your body tolerates it

I have found kefir can make me feel gross if I consume it later in the day, but in the morning it gives me no problems

Fermentation time is related to temperature. It will go faster in the warmer months, and slower in the cooler months.

in the cooler months it may benefit from being located near the stove

the warmer temperatures will also make the SCOBY grow faster

I’ve read that you should never touch your SCOBY with metal. However, stainless steel once in awhile shouldn’t be a problem. I do use a plastic spoon to scoop it out when I have one available.

there is a ton of kefir information out there on the internet. A good place to start is Cultures For Health.

It is more than likely you can find a source for a free SCOBY where you live. Try Google, CraigsList, Kijiji, Facebook, or word of mouth. There are also many folks who sell their grains, which can be great if you want a reliable source. Due to the fact that kefir seems to really like daily attention, I would try to find a local source rather than get one shipped through the mail, but there are several places that will guarantee their shipments.

Good luck everyone! And please let me know if you have any other tips, or any other questions about making kefir!